“The conveyancing process is managed entirely from the desktop application, including one-click property searches, meaning our Residential Conveyancing team can increase the volume of work as well as profitability per case.”

Jon Taylor, software developer at Brabners

Brabners is a full service law firm operating from offices across the North West. With clients ranging from PLCs and SMEs to private clients and public sector bodies, the team brings an in-depth knowledge and a wealth of experience to a range of matters within the legal sector.

The firm’s global reach has meant rapid expansion in recent years, enabling a greater range of services and a proactive approach to providing commercially realistic solutions to legal problems.

The challenge

The team’s work was entirely paper-based, resulting in a slow and inefficient process. Additionally, fee earners were working on cases individually, producing inconsistent approaches to work, and ultimately resulting in compliance issues.

Essentially, Brabners needed to standardise client inception and matter management across the department.

The solution

Working in conjunction with Eclipse, Brabners developed a bespoke case management system for its Residential Conveyancing team – specifically for Plot Sales work – enabling high-level automation and speedier case progression.

Additionally, the firm opted for Proclaim’s integration with PALI (Property and Land Information), an online conveyancing search provider, facilitating one-click searches from the Proclaim desktop, saving hours of data entry.

The results

Repetition is inherent within Plot Sales as document packs are often identical for groups of properties under a specific development or developer. Since implementation, Brabners has seen significant reductions to administrative overheads by utilising Proclaim to automate the majority of case stages, including document production. This has meant fee earners can focus on the legal aspect of their work, whilst increasing overall profitability and case volumes.

Additionally, Brabners is currently in the process of implementing Eclipse’s online case tracking tool, FileView. Linked to the Plot Sales case type, developers will be able to log in securely and view real-time information as and when they need to, providing a convenient and modernised approach to case updates, eliminating continuous interruptions for fee earners.

Due to the success of the plot sales software, Brabners is looking to work with Eclipse again to develop a similar case type for the social housing department, enabling automatic matter creation and maximised matter management efficiency.

Case study highlights:

Bespoke Plot Sales case type

Comprehensive integration with PALI

Standardised client inception and matter management

Real-time client updates via Eclipse’s FileView tool

Associate News is provided by Legal Futures Associates. Find out about becoming an Associate

Legal Futures Blog

A recent Legal Futures article reported that the number complaints involving use of social media by barristers is increasing. The BSB have warned that “as social media and the internet become more prominent in our daily lives, there is an increasing need for barristers to be very careful about what they post whether in their professional or personal lives”. While inappropriate use of social media isn’t anything new, what struck me when reading that paragraph is that, for barristers, I would argue, there shouldn’t be a defining line between the personal and professional. As a barrister, you are your own USP, your personal brand is everything.